I came across a passage of scripture not too long ago that actually made me weep in sorrow towards my own dishonesty of heart. Before the Lord grabbed a hold of me, and reshaped me as someone who hopefully looks more like Him...I had a lot of things that were sin in my life that I of course was blinded too. The problem with sin that we are blinded too is this, usually, everyone else around us can see it. As I read these words from Isaiah I was struck by what what the Lord was saying...listen:
"Stop bringing me meaningless offerings! When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you! Even if you offer many prayers I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood, wash and make yourself clean. Take your evil deeds from my sight." Isaiah 1: 13,15
So, why did this verse strike me so much? Because the reason the Lord calls these peoples offerings "meaningless" is because they claimed closeness to Christ, and yet their lives were full of sin that they were both blinded by, and unrepentant of. And then they (and I) had the audacity to come to the foot of the cross and offer up prayers to the Lord, either in request or praise.
God desires, no, God needs a sincere heart...if we are to come to Him and have a real relationship with our Father, then we must be fully honest with Him and honest with ourselves about what lies deep within. If we hold any idol...anything that takes a greater importance to us than Christ, than we are offering Him meaningless offerings.
I again recognized this truth as my pastor yesterday morning described a similar situation that was happening in the days of Paul (taken from Acts 19:21-40)
but it was no different really than what we do today, people were following the a goddess who claimed to give them a feeling of being "safe and sound". Now isn't that what we all want? To be full of peace, be safe and sound, and have comfort? Isn't that what we are all striving for?
If we are looking for that sense of safety from any other source other than Christ, than we are considering that source to be more important, or more powerful than Christ. I know for a fact there have been times in my life where other things took greater importance than God, and I struggle daily with allowing my thoughts to drift towards things that steal my affections away from Him. Most things I find however, and as I learned in the sermon yesterday, most things that take our place of idol ship above Christ, are all good things. Things like family, jobs, making a good income, safety for our children, (which can lead to strongholds of fear for them) and of course, being healthy and looking good.
All of those things are good! And yet, when any one of those takes greater importance than Christ, then they are no longer good, but distorted. If we think that making more money for example, will make us feel more safe, then we embark on a 80 hour work week job to fulfill that dream, then we are making our job and making more money, our new God. I think you get the picture. And then come Sunday morning, or any morning as we attempt to come before the cross and offer Him our requests...He looks at us and says..."that is a meaningless offering to me."
My friends, God desires our best...and has already given us His...
The way He designed us, was to desire safety. He is to be our source of that safety. No other thing or person or religion will give you that safety, peace, contentment and fulfillment in life. We were created to love Him, serve Him, and honor Him, and in return we are filled to the max with all the things we need most to survive. Wouldn't you rather be filled to the max by God, than strive till your fingers bleed to acquire half of what God will just supply you with? All He asks for is an honest heart, willing to serve Him first. Willing to put Him first. And as we let go of whatever our idols are, we will experience the freedom of Christ, in Christ, that we were designed to live in.
So, where do we start? How do we get there? Read on in Isaiah and He tells you plainly...
"Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land!" Isaiah 1:16b and 19
We come to Him, we confess out idols...lay them down, ask Him to replace them and daily, (perhaps momentarily for a while) ask Him to give us the strength to do this...He will meet your needs. He will meet you where you are at. He is not an unapproachable God. He is the God who sent His son to earth, for you. He's already done the first act of reaching out to you, and now, He waits for our response. So what will say? What will we do? He waiting.
"Stop bringing me meaningless offerings! When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you! Even if you offer many prayers I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood, wash and make yourself clean. Take your evil deeds from my sight." Isaiah 1: 13,15
So, why did this verse strike me so much? Because the reason the Lord calls these peoples offerings "meaningless" is because they claimed closeness to Christ, and yet their lives were full of sin that they were both blinded by, and unrepentant of. And then they (and I) had the audacity to come to the foot of the cross and offer up prayers to the Lord, either in request or praise.
God desires, no, God needs a sincere heart...if we are to come to Him and have a real relationship with our Father, then we must be fully honest with Him and honest with ourselves about what lies deep within. If we hold any idol...anything that takes a greater importance to us than Christ, than we are offering Him meaningless offerings.
I again recognized this truth as my pastor yesterday morning described a similar situation that was happening in the days of Paul (taken from Acts 19:21-40)
but it was no different really than what we do today, people were following the a goddess who claimed to give them a feeling of being "safe and sound". Now isn't that what we all want? To be full of peace, be safe and sound, and have comfort? Isn't that what we are all striving for?
If we are looking for that sense of safety from any other source other than Christ, than we are considering that source to be more important, or more powerful than Christ. I know for a fact there have been times in my life where other things took greater importance than God, and I struggle daily with allowing my thoughts to drift towards things that steal my affections away from Him. Most things I find however, and as I learned in the sermon yesterday, most things that take our place of idol ship above Christ, are all good things. Things like family, jobs, making a good income, safety for our children, (which can lead to strongholds of fear for them) and of course, being healthy and looking good.
All of those things are good! And yet, when any one of those takes greater importance than Christ, then they are no longer good, but distorted. If we think that making more money for example, will make us feel more safe, then we embark on a 80 hour work week job to fulfill that dream, then we are making our job and making more money, our new God. I think you get the picture. And then come Sunday morning, or any morning as we attempt to come before the cross and offer Him our requests...He looks at us and says..."that is a meaningless offering to me."
My friends, God desires our best...and has already given us His...
The way He designed us, was to desire safety. He is to be our source of that safety. No other thing or person or religion will give you that safety, peace, contentment and fulfillment in life. We were created to love Him, serve Him, and honor Him, and in return we are filled to the max with all the things we need most to survive. Wouldn't you rather be filled to the max by God, than strive till your fingers bleed to acquire half of what God will just supply you with? All He asks for is an honest heart, willing to serve Him first. Willing to put Him first. And as we let go of whatever our idols are, we will experience the freedom of Christ, in Christ, that we were designed to live in.
So, where do we start? How do we get there? Read on in Isaiah and He tells you plainly...
"Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land!" Isaiah 1:16b and 19
We come to Him, we confess out idols...lay them down, ask Him to replace them and daily, (perhaps momentarily for a while) ask Him to give us the strength to do this...He will meet your needs. He will meet you where you are at. He is not an unapproachable God. He is the God who sent His son to earth, for you. He's already done the first act of reaching out to you, and now, He waits for our response. So what will say? What will we do? He waiting.
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